𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫𝑭𝑬𝑬𝑳his fear from where she stood, at the back of the group.She heard the hiss of the sliding metal doors as they opened, the harsh, fast breathing of whoever was stuck like plaster to the side of the Box. Whispers of curiosity and scattered laughs burst from the silence that had settled like angry wasps from a nest. Someone pushed to the front of the crowd. Gally.
There were two loud thumps as he leapt into the Box, his feet slamming against the metal.
"Day one, Greenie." She heard Gally say. "Rise and shine." There was a heave, the sound of fists gripping cloth, and a loud thud of a body colliding with the hard ground. She felt a twinge at the back of her head and breathed in sharply. Gally's friendship with Ryan couldn't do good things for her.
The crowd spilled backwards, giving way to whoever had been flung into the centre. There was the sound of scuffling, hands grabbing frantically at the dirt and the soil. More laughs, snide comments.
Emis shrunk back. She felt uncomfortable. She grit her teeth and turned away, arms crossed. She tried to hide her irritation. It wasn't anyone's job to make them feel out of place — that fell into system automatically. This was downright mockery, a slap in the face to add to the fear.
Suddenly, there was a scramble. More struggling. A shout. The boy stood, bursting through a crowd that had clustered around him. He broke into a run. Emis's head whipped round as he caught her attention, hands falling into fists at her sides.
"Hey, we've got a Runner!" Someone roared. There were more laughs.
She noticed his speed first — fresh, powered by adrenaline. His hair was already matted to his forehead, dark as the sunlight clung to it. She could see the sting of the wind on his eyes and its tangle through his hair. And his burning desperation to break free. She saw the way his eyes drew in on the huge gap between the walls, and felt her stomach roll over. Without thinking, she shot after him.
It was too easy to run. Again, it felt like walking, not running. The only thing telling her she was going fast was the blur of colour around her. She could hear the thud of her footfalls on the ground, the rush of blood in her ears. The crash as she smacked into him.
He plummeted, yelling out as she slammed onto him. He tried to protest, but she clamped her hands down into his arms, knees digging into his thighs.
